West Virginia Ready for the Crush of Sports Betting’s Opening Weekend

Whether it’s been hiring and training new employees, testing software or making everything “just so,” it’s been a busy few weeks at the Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races. The casino is set to be the first in West Virginia to open for sports betting. The sportsbook will open Saturday, the first day of the first full weekend of the college football season.

NFL legend Joe Theismann will place the state’s first bet, following in the footsteps of Dr. J in New Jersey and Willis McGahee in Mississippi. The plan is for an “opening ceremony” at the sportsbook at 11 a.m., followed by the first bet.

 

The goal had been for all five of West Virginia’s sportsbooks to open simultaneously, but only the Hollywood Casino is ready and as such will go down in the history books as  accepting the first legal sports bet in the history of the Mountaineer State.

First Weekend of WV Sports Betting Promises to Be Hectic. William Hill Will Operate WV’s First Sportsbook at the Hollywood Casino.

West Virginia becomes the fourth state since the Supreme Court struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act in May to open for sports betting. Delaware was the first in mid-June, followed by New Jersey and Mississippi. Pennsylvania and Rhode Island also have legal sports betting. Pennsylvania approved its temporary regulations earlier this month, and has yet to approve any sports betting licenses, while Rhode Island sportsbooks are expected to open for business later this fall.

The Hollywood Casino is a Penn National-owned casino/resort that is joining forces with William Hill to operate the fully regulated sports betting market under the auspices of the West Virginia Lottery.

With An Expansion of Legal US Sports Betting As More Sports Betting Legislation Passes, Which Operators Will Reign Supreme? Handicapping the Field.

The sportsbook will feature nine betting stations and dozens of wide-screen televisions. The race to open has been frenzied and exciting.

“I can’t tell you how many calls and questions I’ve gotten about the sportsbook, when it’s going to open,” Erich Zimny, vice president for racing and sporting operations at Hollywood, told the Charleston Gazette-Mail earlier this week. “It’s nice to have this amount of buzz and excitement going on.”

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West Virginia Ready for the Crush of Sports Betting’s Opening Weekend

FanDuel Group Receives License For West Virginia Sports Betting

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The FanDuel Group has moved closer to opening up a sportsbook in a second state, as its management services provider interim license was granted on Friday by the West Virginia Lottery Commission, managing general counsel Danielle Boyd told Sports Handle.

In late June, FanDuel CEO Matt King announced a partnership between FanDuel and The Greenbrier Resort in Sulphur Springs, W.Va., which will have the DFS-turned-sports betting operator install a FanDuel Sportsbook at the resort.

The Greenbrier itself has not yet received its operator license, though. The Lottery Commission advised all five of its eligible licensees to submit a letter requesting the operator license with a $100,000 licensure fee, but so far The Hollywood Casino is the only one to have done so, receiving its operator license on Friday and becoming the first casino to claim one, Boyd confirmed.

FanDuel Sportsbook On Track For WV Sports Betting as William Hill And Penn National Gaming Teaming Up There, Too.

wv sports betting fanduel greenbrier fanduel sportsbook
At The Greenbrier Resort’s Casino Club.

Earlier this week we learned that the Hollywood Casino in Charles Town, W.Va. would become the first casino in the state to offer sports wagering.

“We had hoped everyone would launch at the same time and everyone would be up at the beginning of football season,” Boyd said in a Monday appearance on MetroNews’ “Sportsline” program, per MetroNews. “As we move forward, it appears that we’re going to have sort of a phased launch and it’s going to be a tiered approach. We’re just really excited to see that Charles Town will be ready to launch by Sept. 1.”

How long until Greenbrier’s FanDuel Sportsbook cuts a ribbon will debut is guesswork at this point, but certainly the property has to get its operator license first, which should shouldn’t take too much longer than it takes to write a $100,000 check.

FanDuel, now owned by Ireland-based bookmaker Paddy Power Betfair, began cutting its sports betting teeth at the Meadowlands Racetrack in northern New Jersey in mid-July. The sportsbook has not yet released a mobile app or web-based betting platform in New Jersey, while its rival and one-time merger partner DraftKings launched the first New Jersey mobile sportsbook on Monday, beating a host of others to the punch.

As in New Jersey, when the FanDuel sportsbook does go mobile in West Virginia, patrons will have the ability to register and deposit into accounts remotely, so long as they’re inside the state’s borders.

 

William Hill and Penn National Gaming.

Last Friday, bookmaker William Hill announced a big-time entry into Mississippi, while also teasing a partnership in West Virginia plus a much greater one that would put it all over the U.S. map.

While neither William Hill or the Wyomissing, Penn.-based Penn National Gaming (PNG) has yet confirmed a partnership to have William Hill running the sportsbook at the Hollywood Casino in Charles Town, multiple sources have indicated it’s a deal.

“We are now the early market leader in New Jersey where our mobile app will launch within weeks and we expect to be a market leader in Mississippi with these 11 casino agreements,” said William Hill CEO Philip Bowcock. “The team continues to engage in discussions that cover a further 14 states and they are doing a tremendous job.”

In light of the deal in West Virginia and Bowcock’s remarks, the most logical way to get to 14 is via PNG, which is in the process of acquiring Pinnacle Entertainment Inc., which adds Iowa, Louisiana and Colorado to PNG’s map.

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William Hill Penetrates Mississippi Sports Betting, Teases Much More

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In a week of too much news to digest, William Hill US announced on Friday that it has signed partnership agreements with 11 Mississippi casinos for sports betting risk-management and technology services, with deals in the works in West Virginia and another that “would cover a further 14 US states.”

From the release:

Subject to regulatory approvals, William Hill will provide sports betting risk management services and its proprietary technology for both retail and on-premises mobile sports betting to the following casinos: Hard Rock Casino Hotel & Casino Biloxi, Island View Casino Resort (Gulfport), Palace Casino (Biloxi), Treasure Bay Casino (Biloxi) and WaterView Casino (Vicksburg), in addition to six other casinos in Mississippi. All properties are expected to be live by the end of August pending granting of licenses.

In a week thoroughly dominated by news by MGM Resorts International (NBA marketing/data deal, partnerships with Boyd Gaming and GVC), by DraftKings (in New Jersey, it launched the first legal mobile sports betting app outside Nevada), and more shaking and baking by FanDuel (deal with Boyd Gaming), this is a substantial development in the rapid grab for market share in the expanding legal U.S. sports betting market.

Legal Sports Betting States: William Hill US Penetrates Mississippi Deep With A Vastly Expanded Footprint Apparently In The Works.

 


(And also, MGM’s Beau Rivage (Biloxi) and Gold Strike (Tunica) debuted the first Mississippi sportsbooks on Wednesday, August 2.)

William Hill hit the ground running in the post-PASPA world on June 7 as the Delaware Lottery’s sports betting partner via its agreement with Scientific Games. Three racinos took wagers and registered a $330,000 handle on Day 1 with just baseball and some World Cup on the menu.

Then on June 14, the William Hill Race & Sports Book opened at Monmouth Park in Oceanport took the first New Jersey sports bets, about 30 minutes before the MGM’s Borgata did so in Atlantic City. William Hill is also now operating the sportsbook at the Ocean Resort (formerly Revel), which opened on June 28.

“We are now the early market leader in New Jersey where our mobile app will launch within weeks and we expect to be market leader in Mississippi with these eleven casino agreements,” said William Hill CEO Philip Bowcock. “The team continue to engage in discussions that cover a further fourteen states and they are doing a tremendous job.”

The company currently operates about 105 sportsbooks locations throughout Nevada. More from Friday’s news release:

In West Virginia, William Hill will provide retail and mobile/online sports betting to a soon-to-be-announced casino partner. William Hill US is also in advanced discussions with operators about deals that cover casinos in a further fourteen states in the US about similar sports betting agreements

The deals further expand William Hill’s US presence, which already includes sports betting operations in Nevada, Delaware and New Jersey and a race book in Iowa.  William Hill has also combined forces with IGT for the Rhode Island Lottery Sports Betting RFP.  If IGT is awarded the contract, William Hill will supply its operational expertise, risk management, and trading data to support the operation of sports betting in the state. 

Previously in West Virginia, the Greenbrier Resort announced a deal with FanDuel. Each of Penn National Gaming, Eldorado Resorts and Delaware North own three of the other four casinos to be licensed for sports betting in the Mountaineer State.

Those greater referenced negotiations (regarding 14 states) are likely with a regional casino operator such as Penn National Gaming and/or others.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated.

[Also See: Odds Shift in Race for Operator Dominance in Legal U.S. Sports Betting Market]

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Paddy Power Completes FanDuel Acquisition, Forms ‘FanDuel Group’

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Just in time for Saturday’s grand opening of sports wagering at The FanDuel Sportsbook at The Meadowlands in northern New Jersey, Paddy Power Betfair (PPB) and FanDuel confirmed today that they have closed their previously announced merger. The new entity in the U.S. will be officially known as FanDuel Group, the company said.
The Meadowlands deal, in which FanDuel will operate and risk manage the sportsbook, marks FanDuel’s, first foray into Nevada-style, single-team sport betting. FanDuel is generally regarded as the number two Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) outlet, trailing only DraftKings.
The combination creates the largest online sports destination in the United States, according to the company. FanDuel will also operate The Meadowlands mobile sports betting operation in New Jersey when regulators approve their app and online platform.
FanDuel Sportsbook Set to go Live at Meadowlands Racetrack as Paddy Power Betfair Completes Merger of FanDuel, Combining Operations

the fanduel sportsbook's victory sports bar and club
Inside the Victory Sports Bar & Club at the Meadowlands Racetrack

PPB under its Betfair US umbrella and the FanDuel brand name, will also operate at Tioga Downs in New York, subject to enabling legislation in the Empire State, which may come in early 2019. There also remains the possibility that Tioga Downs and three other commercial casinos in New York can move forward with sports betting under a 2013 law. State regulators indicated they are crafting rules in accordance with that law but it’s as yet unknown if the casinos will get a green light.
Jeff Gural is owner/operator of both Tioga Downs and Meadowlands Racetrack. Tioga Downs has a casino element. The Meadowlands, near New York City, only operates as a racetrack.
[Also See: What to Expect at the Meadowlands’ FanDuel Sportsbook Launch]
FanDuel has also partnered with The Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia to provide sports betting services, expected to be available in late August or early September.
FanDuel CEO Matt King will serve as CEO of the newly-combined company and Betfair US. CEO Kip Levin will become President and COO, and remain in his role as CEO of TVG. TVG is a horseracing television network with about 45 million subscribers via cable, satellite systems and online. Paul Rushton, currently Commercial Finance Director of Paddy Power Betfair, will become the CFO of FanDuel Group.
The newly combined business says it will have a presence across 45 states, 8 million customers, and $265 million in annual revenue. As of now, the company is continuing operations at DRAFT, the distant number three DFS company, purchased by PPB in May of 2017.
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